All signs seem to point to Jamie Hacking replacing the injured Makoto Tamada at World Superbike’s stop at Miller Motorsports Park later this month. In fact, Hacking would be replacing Sheridan Morais, the reigning South African Superbike champion, who is currently filling in for Tamada at WSBK’s round at Kyalami. Tamada is still recovering from having a metal plate inserted in his hand after sustaining a wrist fracture at the Monza Race 1 pile-up. While the news is not official, Hacking hinted at it when talking to Roadracing World, saying “there’s a possibility I might do it.”

The news might be a disappoint to South African WSBK fans as Morais could well get Kawasaki’s best result of the year this Sunday, with the South African making it into the second round of today’s Superpole, but with Hacking being both familiar with the Kawasaki, and even more familiar with the track at Miller Motorsports Park, it seems likely for the American to get the nod instead.

After the first corner pile up at Monza took out Brendan Roberts, Troy Corser, Max Neukirchner and Makoto Tamada, the need for replacement riders has become pressing, which means more opportunities for American riders to enter into the WSBK series. This fact holds even more weight as the World Superbike Championship enters into the American tracks, where these riders have more experience than the rest of the field. At Miller, Jake Zemke looks to be almost certain to take the place of John Hopkins again, Zemke only missing from Kyalami because of a calendar clash with the AMA at Infineon Raceway this weekend.